The Trouble with Faking It / Tyler Seguin

Chapter 21: Everything Is About To Change

He looks at Jax and raises a brow. "You alright, man?" he asks because the idiot is still sitting there with his mouth open like he's trying to catch flies.

Jax clears his throat and nods. "I'm peachy."

Nobody acknowledges the lingering awkwardness and dives back into conversation. I begin preparing myself for the talk I'm going to have with Jax but surprisingly, shortly after dessert, he and Lauren decide to go back to their hotel. I breathe a sigh of relief when they are gone but it doesn't last long because I get a text from him.

Jax: You could have told me.

Me: ?

Jax: Lying doesn't get you anywhere. I figured you would have learned that by now.

"Who ya talking to?" Tyler asks, dropping on the couch next to me. I try to look casual by laying my phone on the coffee table.

"Jax. He was just thanking us for dinner." I lie and I try to remember when lying came this easily. It's an ugly look on me.

"That's nice of him." He says, picking up the TV remote and choosing a show to watch.

I try to focus on the show but when I realize it's an episode of Bones, when Booth and Bones have their baby, I wonder if the universe is just playing some sick joke on me.

"Earth to Daisy." Tyler says, nudging me. "I thought you liked this show?"

"Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about what Clara said today." I say, gauging his reaction. "I mean, can you imagine? A baby?"

Tyler laughs. "I was kind of surprised, actually. That she would want a sibling. Not really the ideal time though."

I try to laugh but it sounds off. "Yeah. It would be a disaster, huh?"

"Something like that."

He turns his attention back to the TV and I start to ponder if he's as dense as I was in not noticing or putting two and two together.

Of course he isn't the one getting all the symptoms that I'm having but he has to have noticed the things about me that point to it.

So maybe he is just oblivious.

Regardless, when we're getting ready for bed that night, I try sizing up my stomach and only see the tiniest bump possible. And even then, you wouldn't notice it if you weren't looking.

When Tyler walks into the bathroom, I drop my top quickly and smile. He smiles back but he has a look on his face and I feel paranoid that he somehow knows.

"You okay?" He asks. "I didn't upset you earlier-"

"No." I cut him off, lying through my teeth, "I agree. Now isn't the right time."

***

September 3rd

"Is dad coming next time?" My doctor asks while she's drawing my blood. Her question is light but I can see the underlying concern which makes sense because I nearly passed out when she first told me.

When I don't answer, she prods. "We'll probably be able to hear baby's heartbeat."

"I don't know." I tell her and she must see this a lot because she just nods softly.

"Well, it's always good to have some support so maybe bring a friend next time."

My smile is strained but she doesn't seem to notice. The problem is that there's really nobody I can bring with me because no one else knows.

"My secretary will call you in a couple days to make a follow up appointment." She says and I nod, leaving the room as quickly as I can.

I head to the office as soon as I leave because work is exactly what I need to get my mind off this whole mess. Going to the office doesn't help because as soon as I walk in, I see Tyler talking to my assistant, Julianna and she is outright flirting with him. A few months ago, this would have made me mad and scared but I just want to laugh now because the uncomfortable look on Tyler's face is hilarious. He's being polite which is probably the only reason he's still talking to her. I notice Clara sitting on a bench drawing in her sketchbook which is another thing we have learned about her recently. She loves it, and she's also quite good at it.

When Julianna sees me standing there, she blushes deep red. I decide not to say anything to her because I have gotten past the point where I care about things like this.

Tyler looks happy to see me though, because he walks over quickly and plants a kiss on me which I assume is to make a point.

"What are you two doing here?" I ask, and Clara races over and hugs me.

"We brought you flowers!"

I look at the desk and there is indeed a bouquet of pink roses which I assume Clara chose because they are her favourite.

"Thanks." I say, hugging her back. I look at Julianna who's avoiding eye contact with me and decide to put her out of her misery.

"You can go home early." I tell her and she has her things and it out the door within three minutes.

Tyler looks amused but smiles. "Clara and I wanted to pick you up so we could all go to dinner." He raises a brow. "I told her we have something to tell her."

Ah yes. The dreaded conversation Tyler has been bugging me about. Everybody seems to think we should tell Clara about Jo now. Which I get, but when I think about the other problem I'm dealing with, it all feels like too much.

"Right." I do my best to give her a reassuring smile and she just grins but I don't know how long that smile will last.

***

"Anything?"

"Yep." I say, watching Clara's face light up like Christmas as she looks through the dessert menu. We're trying to butter her up so she hopefully doesn't have a negative reaction.

Jo wanted to be here but I knew that telling her would be a big enough shock that having Jo here could make it worse.

"So, there was something we wanted to tell you." I tell her, lifting my glass to take a sip of water.

Her face lights up. "Are you having a baby?"

Water sprays out of my mouth and there goes my poker face.

"No." Tyler says, eyeing me weirdly. "It's about Drouin."

Her nose scrunches up in confusion. "Drouin?"

"Jo, honey." I say, casting a glare at Tyler. "he means Jo."

"Oh. What about him?"

I try to delay answering her but when I take too long, Tyler decides to cut in.

"He's your dad."

I stare at him in shock but he just raises an eyebrow as if to say, well were you going to tell her anytime soon?

"Oh." She says.

I stare at her. "Oh?"

Tyler looks as surprised as I am and I wait, hoping that she will say something, anything, that will give me a clue as to what she is thinking.

"Are you mad?" I ask carefully and she doesn't answer at first but sighs.

"No," she says. "When do we have to leave?"

"We aren't leaving." I say quickly. "You and I live here, Jo will just come and visit."

I tell her this knowing full well that chances are she'll end up having to go to Montreal sometimes.

"Okay."

I open my mouth to say something else but our server brings Clara's brownie and her face lights up.

I don't have the heart to tell her that everything is about to change.